Wet sanders have long been known, as exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 3,110,993 issued Nov. 19, 1963 to Cooper R. Grage, U.S. Pat. No. 3,395,495 issued Aug. 6, 1968 to Stephen Powanda, U.S. Pat. No. 4,091,577 issued May 30, 1978 to Antonio Ortiz, U.S. Pat. No. 4,102,084 issued July 25, 1978 to Thomas N. Bloomquist and U.S. Pat. No. 4,175,359 issued Nov. 27, 1979 to Walter D. Teague, Jr. et al.
To Applicant's knowledge, nobody has heretofore combined the advantages of flowing water with a manually operable sanding box. All wet sanders in the prior art known to Applicant utilize power means for movement of the sandpaper across the work surface, but Applicant's device utilizes what is, except for the fluid delivery system, a conventional hand-held manually operable sanding block with a strip of sandpaper releasably attached thereto.
The mechanized devices of the prior art certainly have their utility but the utility of the power devices does not extend to reaching obscure places or to the light touch required for the final finish when repairing an automobile body where only a manually operable sanding block with the advantages of a flushing fluid will do the job.